The Adventure of the Counterfeit Crusaders
The Adventure of the Counterfeit Crusaders is the fourteenth short story in the Biggles - Charter Pilot , published in 1943. The story later also appeared in Boy's Own Paper in Feb 1944 under the title The Lost Crusaders. In Charter Pilot, this story is preceded by The Adventure of the Inquisitive Dodos and followed by The Adventure of the Green Horse. The story was adapted in French for a comic strip and included in the small format comic book Biggles dans le désert by Aredit under the same title and was published in 1967. Synopsis Talk in the 666 Sqn mess about the Germans capturing Rostov in the Caucasus leads to Ginger recounting the story of how he, Biggles and Algy flew Dr Augustus Duck to a remote valley there in search of a lost tribe descended from the crusaders. Plot (click on expand to read) This time Dr Duck wants to search for a lost tribe in the Caucasus who are believed to be descended from the crusaders. Using Baku as the jump off point, Biggles and co. head into the mountains and land on a lake. By a stroke of luck, they meet a gaudily dressed man, an astrologer who once worked at the Persian royal court but now exiled. He takes them to his care and tells them that the tribe of lost crusaders really does exist but he doesn't know in which valley they lived. However there was on itinerant news vendor who toured the entire region announcing the latest news. He would know where to go and he is due to arrive at the astrologer's cave soon. The news crier might be reluctant to take westerners with him so the astrologer suggests that they disguise themselves as Eastern holy men. Biggles is reluctant to put on a disguise so he offers to stay and guard the plane but he tells Ginger to lay a trail of paper balls behind him so that they can find their way back. So it is all arranged. The news crier takes Ginger, Algy and Duck with him. Some distance later, they enter a narrow defile and are suddenly confronted by four men in chain mail. The crusaders! But there is something strange. They hold modern automatic pistols. It turns out that they are German spies taking advantage of the local crusader legend as a cover. They decide to execute Duck, Algy and Ginger to preserve their secret. One of the crusaders raises his pistol. There is a shot, but it's the German who falls! Biggles is behind a rock with a rifle! He orders the Germans to lay down their weapons, turn around and walk back down to their valley. The fake Crusaders depart at run. Biggles orders everyone back to the aircraft. The enemy would counter-attack soon. They take off safely and Biggles explains what happened. He had seen an electric wire in the astrologer's cave and had been suspicious. After the others had left with the news crier, Biggles hid outside the cave and overheard the astrologer talking on a field telephone in German. Shortly thereafter, the astrologer, obviously another German spy posted as a sentry by the lake, walked towards their aircraft with a rifle. He probably waited to kill Biggles but Biggles had been stalking and was able to knock him out with a stone and take his rifle. He then followed the trail of paper balls to rescue the others. Characters Narrated story *Biggles *Algy *Ginger *Dr Augustus Duck 666 Sqn personnel in preamble *Bertie Lissie *Henry Harcourt *Tug Carrington *Tex O'Hara Aircraft *Wanderer Places Visited *Baku - jump off point into the Caucasus Mentioned Research Notes References to the past Incongruities Chronology *Ginger narrates the story in the 666 Sqn mess just after the Germans were reported to have taken Rostov. This could have been in November 1941, or July 1942. Both are plausible. In the first case, 666 Sqn would have returned to England after the events of Biggles Sweeps the Desert. In the second case, 666 Sqn would have returned home after the events of Biggles in Borneo and Biggles has not yet embarked on his mission in Biggles Fails to Return. References Category:Short stories Category:Biggles short stories Category:Interwar era short stories